A blog expanding on the subjects discussed in our movie "Science Sex and the Ladies." We blog critically on a specific intersection of science, sexuality, and feminism; particularly paying attention to how female sexual response is discussed, portrayed, and studied in our culture. So...if you're interested in science, sex, lady stuff, or indie movie making...this is the blog for you.

10.22.2014

Sensitivity of Clit and Vagina While Aroused and Unaroused

It ain't easy getting a hold of lady orgasm articles from scientific journals when you aren't in college or when the scientific company you work for focuses more on plants than lady junk or when your local librarians look at you with pure hate when you ask them to order these sex articles for you and then they keep forgetting you asked about it. I had been having to make periodic runs to the ol' IUPUI libraries to make copies. Now I have a free trial of a site I can get a bunch of full articles from and a cousin in college that knows how to use her library resources and will get me ones that I can't get from my free trial. So, my point is that I'm having a field day getting to read all the articles I want...article I have only seen abstracts for. It's pretty sweet. This means I'm going to do more "A Journal Article I Read" blog posts about random articles I read. And on that note, here is one. I'm just going to explain it as fully, but still as easily understandable as I can, and if I want to say something else about it, I will.

11 women were tested during non aroused and aroused states for heat and vibration sensitivity on the clitoral glans area and for vibratory sensation on the anterior wall of the vagina (the wall towards the front, not the backside of your body). They threw out doing the heat test on the vaginal wall after they found in preliminary tests that there were no changes in sensitivity at all during different levels of arousal. The scientist had a device that they would hold against the test area and would ramp up the heat or vibration until the woman indicated that she felt it - the less vibration or heat before she felt it, the more sensitive that area was. Here is the schedule for when the tests would be done on both the clit (both heat and vibration) and the vagina (just vibration):Test 1 - Soon after getting into the testing room and before any arousal process was begun Test 2 - A base line 10 minutes after Test 1 and still before any arousal process started (Results from bot tests 1
and 2 matched the base line tests of 89 other women tested previously) Test 3 - Immediately post arousal (once lubrication had begun) but before any physical self stimulation. Women chose erotic viewing material from a selection of short
promos and had begun watching them to begin arousal.Test 4 - Immediately after orgasm. None could achieve orgasm from
auditory/visual stimulation alone so they were allowed to use manual
stimulation or vibrators. The actual achievement of orgasm was not
physiologically verified. (The women were in a private room and buzzed the
researchers in directly after lubrication for Test 3 and directly after orgasm
for this test) Test 5 - 5 minutes
post orgasm Test 6 -10 minutes post orgasm Test 7- 20 minutes post orgasm

What they found

The clit needed
more vibration (over and above what she needed at the Tests 1 and 2 baseline readings) before the woman felt it after the non-self stimulating
arousal and then also after the orgasm, at 5 minutes post orgasm, and at 10 minutes
post orgasm. The vagina didn't need more vibration (over and above what she needed at the Tests 1 and 2 baseline readings) for the woman to feel it
until after the orgasm and then also at 5 minutes post orgasm. The amount of heat
needed on the clit before the woman to feel it never changed.

There have been studies showing the same lowering of vibration sensitivity in an aroused penis (over that of an un-aroused penis).A [1][2]

What I want to say about itThere had been some studies in the past about sensitivity among the different parts of the female genitals. but a study of
female genital sensitivity during the the phases of sexual arousal doesn’t seem to have
been done until this study. It is just a small study with only 11 women. Plus, the orgasms
were not physiologically verified in this. That's an issue I am always weary of, given
that women/sexperts/researchers tend to use the word orgasm in ways that could
mean something other than the universally accepted physically identifiable way
that Masters and Johnson defined it. So, one woman’s “orgasm” may literally be
something different than another woman’s – possibly more
emotionally/spiritually based as opposed to physically identifiable. This is an
issue that sex researchers should be more cognizant of. However, overall, I thought it was an interesting little study that that other scientists could duplicate or springboard from...and now you know about it.

[1]
Urology. 1998 Dec;52(6):1101-5.

Penile
sensitivity in men: a composite of recent findings.

Rowland DL.

[2] J
Urol. 1991 Oct;146(4):1018-21.

Changes in penile
sensitivity following papaverine-induced erection in sexually functional and
dysfunctional men.